A Venture from the Coastal Plains to the Till Plains

tributes

This post is a tribute to my Grandfather Martin. He was an officer with combat experience who was transferred from the horse cavalry to anti-aircraft artillery in World War II. After the war he became an extension in the state of North Carolina. A North Carolina farmer approached him one day to check on an issue with a sudden drop in yield of corn. The corn had an unusual parasitic weed. This weed was one he could not identify, nor could the botanist working at North Carolina State University. The University had a graduate student who happened to see the weed recognized it as the scourge from his home country as witchweed. A witchweed eradication program was set up by the government to find a way to eradicate this pestilence. A way was found to eradicate the pestilence leading to the shutdown of one of the most successful government programs in the history of the United States.

This legacy of agricultural leadership is one I hope to continue in the Agbot competition.